Andy
summarizes his research by explaining that most databases in current use are
predicated on designs from the 1970s where memory was more expensive and
transaction speed reflected the slowness of manual data entry. “Today, the
entire landscape has changed,” he explains. “DRAM has gotten so cheap that all
but the largest front-end databases can fit in main memory. Transactions take
milliseconds instead of seconds.”

Working
with a team of students from Brown, MIT, and Yale, Andy created H-Store, an
experimental, distributed main memory database management system that was later
commercialized as VoltDB. “With H-Store,” explains BrownCS professor Stan Zdonik, Pavlo’s thesis
advisor, “Andy took main memory databases and pushed them to the limit, thereby
achieving a very high transaction processing rate. From a practical standpoint,
the increase in processing speed means you can achieve the same goals using
less hardware, and less hardware means lower operational costs.”

“It also
means different hardware,” Andy adds. “Instead of requiring expensive servers, a
system like H-Store runs on commodity hardware. There can be huge cost
savings.”

It’s
these savings alongside revolutionary speed increases while maintaining data
integrity that make Pavlo’s work so remarkable. “In the data processing world
today,” Stan explains, “increases in throughput have often occurred at the cost
of transactional soundness. Andy proved that you can maintain correctness without
sacrificing performance. As e-commerce continues to grow and transaction rates
increase, this becomes more and more valuable.”

This
value is already being realized by VoltDB’s clients, whose transaction
processing needs include Shopzilla’s network of 40 million users, the Bursa
Malaysia exchange, and even the Canadian
Idol television show. Despite this success, Andy was surprised by news of
the award: “I don’t know what to say! I’m quite pleased. I didn’t expect this.”
He immediately credits Zdonik, saying, “Stan stood by me and supported me
throughout. I really enjoyed my time at Brown, in part because he was the perfect
advisor, just phenomenal.”

“Andy and
I get along on so many levels,” Stan says. “I’m proud as can be at his
achievements, and the very fact that he was hired at Carnegie Mellon so quickly
speaks to his talent.He’s clearly a
rising star.”